


A New Fit

by 1989Rad



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: A study in managing friendships and romantic relationships, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Mama Mia refences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-11-03 21:17:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20702000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1989Rad/pseuds/1989Rad
Summary: Damian has bad news. Bad news he wants to share with his boyfriend, Tim, before the embarrassment gets the better of him.Too bad when he arrives at Tim’s apartment, it’s a slightly tipsy Stephanie Brown who answers the door.





	A New Fit

Damian wasn’t surprised to see Stephanie behind Tim’s door. Couldn’t be. Not anymore. It had to be an even split. Either he would knock on Tim’s door and see his boyfriend or he would see Stephanie Brown. 

Damian felt his nose scrunch and did his best to remain calm as she giggled through her tipsy greeting, “Welcome to casa Brown y Drake!”

“Drake y Brown,” Tim called from the couch. Damian bit back the desire to correct them both. Technically the apartment was rented under Wayne enterprise. 

“You both have been drinking, I presume?” Damian stepped inside and began to toe-off his shoes. 

“Un poco,” Steph answered before slamming the door. Damian winced at the noise. 

It wasn’t that Damian disliked Steph. It was the opposite. He liked Steph a great deal. Thought of her as family. Looked forward to their horror movie marathons and had come to respect the woman for the chaotic yet controlled skill in battle. 

Steph brushed past Damian to hop over the back of Tim’s couch to sit beside him. “Was it that obvious?” Tim’s voice called back to him. Damian looked to see Mama Mia playing quietly on the tv. One of Steph’s favorites. Damian swallowed and shifted the bag in his hand. His eyes noted the opened wine on the kitchen island. 

“Wine?”

“Should have gone for margaritas,” Steph sang. Tim pushed her with his shoulder as Damian rounded the couch. It was all too common of a scene. The room felt small as he looked at Steph and Tim. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch. Damian noted that at least their legs were on the floor. Once he had come by to see Steph’s legs draped over Tim’s lap. Another time, the two were found under a blanket watching P.S. I love you at 3 am. 

Damian didn’t know what to make of it. He had friends. Quite a few at this stage of his life. A fact he had grown quite grateful for but none were like Steph. None were nearly as complicated. 

Stephanie was Tim’s ex-girlfriend. His first love. His first time. His first everything. 

Tim was all of those things to Damian. 

Damian met his boyfriend's eyes. “What do you think Dami,” Tim asked playfully, “should we have gone with margaritas or are you ok with wine?”

His cheeks were rosy. His smile relaxed and his eyes a bit wet from laughter. Steph and Tim laughed a lot when together. Damian could almost feel their happiness. 

The young Robin felt awkward, his bag too heavy in his hands. “Wine is preferable.”

“See!” Tim turned to Steph who was only a few inches away from his face. “Damian prefers my wine.”

“That’s unfair cause he’s your boyfriend.”

“How is that unfair? He would tell me if he wanted margaritas.”

“No way. You’re still in the honeymoon stage. No way Damian would jinx it.” 

Damian gripped his bag tighter. He may be smitten, but he wasn’t a pushover. At least, he hadn’t thought of himself as such. 

“Damian always speaks his mind. That hasn’t changed just because we are dating.” 

“It totally has.” Steph made a show of moving her arms as she spoke. “You just don’t see it cause you’re also in the honeymoon stage.”

“Pft.”

“It’s totally true.”

“It’s not.”

“It is,” Damian surprised himself. The other two snapped out of their teasing. Tim’s eyes went wide while Steph’s shrouded in sympathy. “I’m uncomfortable with this.” He motioned to the pair on the couch. The ex-lovers looked at each other. “Timothy, did you read my text message?”

Tim’s eyes darted back to Damian and then snapped to the kitchen counter. Damian followed his gaze to see his phone face down and plugged into a wall charger. He frowned. 

Every once and a while Damian thought about asking Tim to turn on read receipts but Jon told him only paranoid couples did that. It wasn’t so much paranoia, Damian reasoned, as the desire to know if he had been heard or not. To know if Tim was distracted. Tim tended to immerse himself in either a single subject or drown under everything at once. Helping guide him to a middle ground was proving to be a challenge. 

Steph shifted away from Tim’s side a bit as he answered, “I haven’t looked at my phone in a few hours. I’m sorry Damian.”

Tim had this remarkable ability to look boyish when he wanted. To look like a child who has just been unfairly scolded. Damian was still trying to figure out how intentional the look was.

“I texted you about my day. Asked for us to be,” Damian took a deep breath, “alone for I have unpleasant news I am dealing with.” The young Wayne did his best to keep his shoulders squared and his eyes on Tim. 

He wasn’t angry if he was being honest. But anger was an easier emotion than embarrassment. 

“Dami,” Steph said softly, “are you-“

“I had a difficult day at university,” he responded curtly. Tim was scratching at the back of his own hands now. Tim looked from Damian to Steph and then back again before scooching away from the girl.

“Sit.” Tim pat the spot between him and Steph. A mix of command and request. The kind that let Damian know Tim wouldn’t be offended if he said no. 

Damian eyed the spot wearily. 

“I can leave,” Steph began, “it’s ok.”

“No,” Damian answered. “You are in no state to travel through Gotham’s streets.” 

“Plus,” Tim interjected, “You’re a better sounding board than me anyway.” Damian shifted on his feet and the bag knocked against his knees. Tim was right about that. Tim was just as incompetent at sorting through his emotions as Damian. Maybe that’s why they fell in together. The two looked back at Damian. “Sit and tell me what’s wrong Damian.”

Damian did as he was told. Tension exhausted from his shoulders the second they hit the couch. Tim’s hands came to pry the bag from Damian’s and place it under the table. He lifted Damian’s hands to his mouth. Damian could feel the strain in his jaw release a bit. Tim feathered a small kiss against his fingers. 

Stephanie shifted to sit sideways on the couch and Damian could feel her warm eyes on his skin. Her soft and caring smile that took up half her face. 

Normally, when the three of them sat together, Tim would sit in the middle. This was different. Nicer. Tim’s purposeful touch and Stephanie’s open gaze. Damian felt safer than usual. Less like a third wheel intruding on a rich friendship. 

“I received unsatisfactory news at school today,” Damian started. Tim tilted his head encouraging him to continue. “It’s embarrassing.”

“If you don’t want me to know Damian, that’s ok,” Stephanie reassured.

“You’re already here,” Damian responded. “I am sure you would no doubt find out as well based on how gossip spreads.” Damian felt Steph’s hand rise to his shoulder. The two of them were making small circles on his skin. Tim on his hands and Steph on the edge of his neck. 

Damian took a deep a deep breath before speaking, “I received a C in my English class.” The pairs hands stopped moving.

Dread washed over Damian. Embarrassment. Damian had received a C on a major assignment. It was his first year at college and he was already screwing up. He had never received a grade lower than an A before, let alone a C. Mother would have already scolded him, punished him, and made him repeat the lesson. English was a required course, yes, but it was unrelated to his major. It should have been easy. Damian’s jaw began to tighten again.

The silence was piercing. The two must be reassessing their views of Damian. Filing away his incompetence for later. 

“Is that it?” Tim questioned and Damian met his face with raised eyebrows. 

“Tim,” Stephanie all but yelled, “let him finish!”

“No you’re right, ” Tim corrected himself, “please continue Damian?”

“No,” Damian affronted, “that’s it. There is nothing else to say.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.” 

“Really?!”

“Yes! I have never gotten a C in school.”

“Oh my god,” Tim slumped back against the couch armrest, “I thought you were gonna say you were expelled for taking a sword to school or something Damian.” 

Steph snorted, “or like Harley Quinn was your psych teacher.” 

“Or that the Riddler redesigned the campus!”

“Or the football team was replaced by penguins!”

“This is not a joke,” Damian pushed himself to sit up. “I have revived a C. I will need perfect grades the rest of the semester to ensure I do not lose a respectable GPA. If I’m to get into a decent grad school, I can’t allow this to become a habit.” His focus shifted between the two as they held their tongues.

The quiet throbbed until Tim broke its pulse. 

A puff of air soon prompted a giggle from Stephanie which caused Tim to double over in laughter. A bark of joy from Brown rang against Damian’s ear. 

“Damian!” Tim called, “I dropped out of high school!”

“I got so many Cs,” Steph snickered, “Ds too.”

“I failed Egyptian trigonometry!!”

“Wasn't your father an archeologist?”

“Yeah, oh my god.” They laughed across Damian even harder now. Damian could feel his anger rise. They were laughing at him. Damian has been agonizing for hours. Debating whether to tell or break into his teacher’s files to change the grade. He had spent the entire ride here rehearsing how to tell his father, and yet these two were laughing.

Damian looked at Stephanie. Her mascara smudged as she wiped away a tear. Her grin curled cartoonishly as she caught her breath. Tim squeezed his hand and Damian shifted his attention. 

His boyfriend. His high school drop out of a boyfriend was laughing at him. Damian stared at their interlocked fingers. No, he wasn’t laughing at Damian because he got a C. He was laughing because Damian had agonized over it.

He had been a fool to think his worth to Tim was dependent on a grade.

Tim snorted and Damian felt his heart flip. When it landed, his embarrassment shattered and he too began to laugh. 

Damian laughed. He laughed and Stephanie gripped his shoulder. He laughed and Tim kissed the side of his face. He laughed and sat between his dear friend and boyfriend. 

They laughed till there was no more noise left to make. No more giggles. No more shame. 

Damian melted into the couch and Tim reached across him. He pulled Steph to settle by his side. “She gives better hugs.”

“Damn straight.” Stephanie squeezed and Tim took his usual position curled against Damian.

Their breathing evened out and Damian lowered his arms to wrap them around the older pairs shoulders. “Damian,” Tim started, “you know you’ll be ok. You don’t need a perfect GPA to get into a good grad school. You don’t even need a college degree if you don’t want one.” 

“Don’t say that,” Steph said as she reached across Damian to punch Tim. “Education is important.” 

“It’s true!”

“Doesn’t mean you need to say it, rich boy.”

“Oh Damian,” Tim began as he pushed himself up a bit from Damian’s chest, “are you actually uncomfortable? With this I mean.” Tim motioned to the three of them. “Not with getting a C for what, a progress report? Do they do that in college?”

“They don’t do progress reports in college. It was a paper.”

“Not even a final grade?” Tim gawked.

“No.”

“Oh my god,” Tim waved off his laughter, “but seriously this. The three of us spending time together? Does it make you uncomfortable?”

Curled on the couch and cheeks still wet with tears of joy, Damian swallowed. 

“You two are close,” Damian answered honestly. “Oddly enough it doesn’t make me jealous.” Steph sat up now to listen. “But I do,” he swallowed again and stared at his boyfriend, “I do sometimes feel like I’m intruding. I would prefer to not to worry about how I fit into your relationship.” 

“Damian,” Steph interjected and Damian turned, “I’ve been worried about the same thing. We were just getting close again when you two started dating.” 

Damian took in her expression, furrowed brow, and firm mouth. Damian had not thought about Stephanie, the best friend left behind as they began to date. His sister he was just getting to know as a young adult. Her interruptions suddenly clicked. 

Tim coughed. “You guys know I’m not going to catch on to these things right? Like when it comes to emotions, I need you both to tell me.” 

“Or you could try harder,” Damian snipped. 

“Yeah like maybe use those detective skills on us for once,” Steph complained. 

“And answer your phone once and awhile.”

“And start remembering birthdays.”

“Maybe take a day off from WE to visit me on campus.”

“Oh and take us all out to the zoo!”

“The zoo?” Tim Interjected.

“Yeah,” Damian agreed, “take us to the zoo.”

“I’m not taking you two to a zoo. You’ll want to steal an animal,” Tim said as he pointed at Damian. “And you,” Tim shifted his pointing to Steph, “just want me to pay for everything.”

“It’s not my fault that I’m a much better caretaker than most, if not all, zookeepers,” Damian reasoned as Steph nodded vigorously in agreement. 

“Here here!” She called, “We have to save the pandas.”

“We are not saving pandas,” Tim answered.

“Only the red ones,” Damian compromised, smiling in a way he knew made Tim’s heart flutter.

Tim looked back and forth between the two, took a deep inhale and sighed a heavy, “Fine.” Steph whooped and Damian could feel his face split from smiling. “We can go to the zoo but we aren’t going to steal anything!”

“Spoilsport,” Steph sneered as Tim reached for the glasses on the table. 

“I am just being practical.” Tim made his way into the kitchen to find a third glass. “The press is still adjusting to seeing Damian and me together. They don't need pictures of us out with a missing red panda.”

“You underestimate me, Timothy,” Damian teased, “I would not allow us to get caught.” 

“Red-Handed? Red Pan-dahed,” Steph thought out loud as Tim poured the wine.

“Keep trying Brown,” Damian laughed, “There is a joke in there somewhere.” She punched him before laughing herself.

“There he is. There’s the Damian I love to hate.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

Tim was careful to bring back the glasses and hand them out. “To Damian’s first C,” he offered. 

“And to friendship,” Steph cheered.

“And to the zoo animals, we will soon liberate.” Damian finished. The three clinked their glasses and drank before settling back into the couch. 

The warmth radiated through Damian. His shoulders burned from touching his close friend, and sister, while his palm kindled from the point his lover had interface their fingers. 

Damian rested his head against Tim’s shoulder who turned to quickly kiss it.

“Oh noooo,” Steph whined, “we missed the ‘Lay all your love on me’ beach scene! Guess we'll just have to rewind!” 

“Noooo,” Damian and Tim half-heartedly called out before Steph snatched the remote. She made sure to rewind a bit more than necessary to ensure Damian not miss a second of the extremely complex plot.

When she settled back against them, Damian could already feel his eyes drifting. This was exactly what he needed.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago. Thought maybe it could fit into Tedious and have decided against it. Maybe it does fit in but not in the direct chapters.
> 
> Hope y’all enjoyed.


End file.
